Dead, Red, Athenian: Aristophanes' Ecclesiazusae and Anti-Communist Censorship

Description

It’s January 31, 1954 and all across the United States and in nearly every industry, Americans are suffering under “witch hunts” designed to root out an alleged infiltration of American life by communists. German professor, writer, and director Robert Klein with assistance from the American Academy for Dramatic Arts and New York’s Cooper Union staged a production of Aristophanes’ Ecclesiazusae, renamed Time for a Change. Two weeks before the play’s performance, nine students dropped out of the play fearing that they would risk their futures by participating in such a communist play. Moreover, Klein’s script – despite being nothing more than Benjamin Bickley Roger’s 1923 translation – was heavily expurgated by the American Academy’s president – Lawrence Langner – because several of its lines might be labelled pro-communistic. This paper highlights a key instance where American anti-communist hysteria bled into the realm of cultural production to censor a play which is itself heavily anti-communist and I will analyse how the censoring of an ancient Greek comedy which satirises the idea of communal ownership is indicative of the widespread paranoia of 1950s America.

Period	15 May 2025
Event title	Cold War Classics
Event type	Conference
Location	St Andrews, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International